A Wolfgang Puck Express will be located on the lobby level of the new University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, on the campus of UH Case Medical Center in the city’s University Circle neighborhood, opening this spring.

The 2,500-square-foot sit-down café will be the nation’s first Puck restaurant to be housed in a hospital, and also the renowned chef’s first business in Northeast Ohio.

“I love coming to Cleveland, and I’m excited to partner with University Hospitals to open our newest restaurant. It’s an honor to be opening in this spectacular new cancer hospital,” said Puck in a media release.

Puck is a long-time supporter of UH. For nearly 25 years the founder of Spago and a procession of other fine-dining restaurants worldwide has served as honorary chairman of “Five Star Sensation,” a biennial benefit that has raised more than $10 million for the University Hospitals Ireland Cancer Center (now UH Seidman Cancer Center). About three dozen chefs, many of them internationally renowned, join Puck in producing a feast enjoyed by about 1,700 donors.

The restaurant dovetails neatly with the cancer center’s mission and other UH initiatives, says Nathan Levitan, MD, president of the UH Seidman Cancer Center.

“Wolfgang Puck Express will be a perfect complement to our patient-center, healing-oriented cancer hospital,” Levitan said in a media release.

Although fine-dining restaurants are the genesis of Puck’s empire, Puck Express locations are considered fast-casual operations. While they are not expressly billed as health food restaurants, Levitan points out that Puck’s advocacy of fresh and natural ingredients has been a driving force shifting dining options in major cities.

The forthcoming Puck Express will join more than 80 existing outlets. Located throughout the U.S., Canada and Japan, the restaurants are primarily set in major cities, suburban retail centers, universities and airports.